With "How I Met Your Mother"’s 100th episode, the sitcom is officially back
I am sure my fellow television junkies have also been wondering, where did all the sitcoms go? Where did the short and snappy half-an-hour addictions go? Or the group of genuine friends that you only wish you had? And the annoying but loving feeling when the laugh track cracks up at a not-so-funny punchline?
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Thankfully, CBS answers our prayers with "How I Met Your Mother", currently one of the best shows on television. Spectators witnessed the show at its best in "Girls vs. Suits" — the 12th episode of the fifth season and episode 100 overall.
The series is set in the year 2030, but the premise lies in the present as Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) tells his kids stories of how he met their mother. Amidst the numerous women who appear on the show as potential mothers, Mosby’s friends wrap the show together with wonderfully witty side plots.
"How I Met Your Mother" can easily be— and often is — compared with the brilliance of "Friends". Lily (Alyson Hannigan) as Phoebe, Robin (Cobie Smulders) as Rachel, Marshall (Jason Segel) as Ross, Ted as Chandler, and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is the Joey we have missed for years. Ted’s apartment replicates Monica’s obsessive cleanliness (minus the old naked man outside the window) while MacLaren’s, the bar in "How I Met Your Mother", matches Central Perk, the coffee shop in "Friends." "How I Met Your Mother" takes us on a stroll down memory lane, but episode 100 is a leap forward from past sitcoms.
Weeks ago, all we knew of "Girls vs. Suits" was a delightful teaser of a simple Barney dance number about suits which attracted 9.8 million viewers to CBS at 8 p.m. last Monday on Jan. 11. And as loyal viewers can relate, although the true hook of the series is the mystery of the mother, Harris’ remarkable acting out-shines any other plot. His flirting techniques, his humorous arrogance, and his sexual remarks overshadow Mosby’s continuous story telling to his kids.
In "Girls vs. Suits", the lasting humor rests in Barney as he yearns to fill the gap in his list of girls by hitting on the bartender but learns that the lass despises suits. In one scene of "Girls vs. Suits", Barney accidentally rips a suit and takes it to fashion designer Tim Gunn to fix. When Gunn delivers the news of the death, Barney decides to place his Italian suit as an organ donor: its buttons can save another suit’s life. The fact that Barney carries around his urn of dead suit ashes, which helps him score with the bartender, shows the specularity of this character.
This show’s absolute highlight was, of course, the musical score "Nothing suits me like a suit." Barney lasers suits onto puppies and dogs, chooses suits over world peace and describes "the perfect way to snare a girl with daddy issues." With satirically choreographed dance arrangements and steps, the makers show the creativity of sitcoms in more than just punchlines.
Sitcoms could be considered worthless and insignificant, which quite truthfully, makes them the best type of show. 21 minutes of meaningless joy and continuous giggles trumps a dramatic and heart-thumping B-roll any day. And "How I Met Your Mother" trumps them all.
"How I Met Your Mother" is television that presents us with the sitcoms we haven’t seen in a decade but adds on an extra certain spark of excitement. When we hear the "ba ba baa" of their theme song, our minds travel straight back to the "so no one told you life was gonna be this way."
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